COVID-19 Relief

Another week has gone by and it’s been another week of continued COVID-19 relief negotiations with no deal. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had set a deadline of Tuesday of this week for a deal, which came and went, but she has stated that “we’re just about there” and her conversation with Treasure Secretary Steven Mnunchin have been progressing.  Long-standing issues of disagreement, including aid to state and local governments, liability protections for businesses and funding for the U.S. Census and election systems, continue to be sticking points.

Again, should Secretary Mnunchin and Speaker Pelosi reach a deal, it is unclear if there are the votes in the Senate to pass it. And the clock is ticking to get this done before the Election, which is now 11 days away. NCSD is continuing to highlight the need for more funding for contact tracing and the need to invest in DIS for this work. Stay tuned!

340B

In other news, a bi-partisan group of House members are asking their colleagues to sign a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar expressing deep concern about drug industry technology services company Kalderos’ work with drug manufacturers to reconfigure the 340B drug pricing program “from one of up-front discounts to post-sale rebates.” NCSD is deeply concerned about this proposal given the implications for STD 340B covered entities. We have been following it closely and will keep you updated on the outcome of outreach such as this.